The Urgent Need for Climate Action Includes Land Use Reforms, IPCC Report Says

According to the IPCC Working Group III report, "Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of climate change," the world can still halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. From 2010-2019, average annual global greenhouse gas emissions were at the highest levels in human history, according to a press release announcing the report, but the rate of growth has slowed and there is increasing evidence of climate action.

An article for the Washington Post by Sarah Kaplan and Brady Dennis summarize six of the biggest climate action recommendation of the report—in all the report includes hundreds of ideas for greenhouse gas emission reductions. One of the big ideas explored in the article—turning cities clean and green—is directly connected to the field of planning.

"Simple urban planning measures, such as increasing density, mixing residential and commercial areas so people can live where they work, and developing along public transit corridors, could cut urban carbon pollution by roughly a quarter by 2050," according to the article.

There is more detail about how to transform cities for a low-carbon future in the source article below, as well as the other five steps to halt climate change listed here: 1) Switch on renewable energy, 2) Make buildings more efficient, 3) Rev up electric vehicles—and walk or bike the rest of the way, 4) Sink carbon into the land, and 5) Invest in a fairer world.